They're calling for more fluid categories beyond just male and female, as NPR's Margot Adler explains.

I'm totally fine with people who were born with a different sexual identity than what matches their naughty bits. It happens sometimes, and these days, there is no reason not to live a happy and fulfilled life wearing the gender in which you feel comfortable, and having sexual relations with whichever consenting adults wish to do so. Having said that, if your gender identity is changing,on a regular basis, perhaps you need to seek professional help. This is not normal or healthy, and other people catering to this whim is not helpful to your mental health.

staplermofo:Ungendered pronouns would be great. Un-gendering bathrooms would be nice too. If women peep on men or men hog the couch, it's a small price to pay. I would hog the shiat out of that couch.

Why don't dudes get a couch? What the hell are women doing in the can that necessitates a couch? I want a couch to chill on in the can. I would totally call the restaurant's number on my cell and ask for my waiter and then tell him bring me another beer to the couch in the men's room. Bonus points if it's a waitress. More bonus points if she does it. Negative points if she changes gender first.

Of course they're complaining about the line. All the chicks are just sitting on the couch instead of doing their businesses and getting out to make room for the next person. Maybe the line would move quicker if they'd take the damn couch out, or at least move it to the men's room. Then the dudes would have someone to talk to while they're at the urinal.

Didn't we have this thread last week? If you're gender confused pick the masculine or feminine, whichever you prefer, and try to stick with it. The overwhelming majority of people aren't going to be willing to learn new gender-neutral pronouns, so unless you fancy being called an 'it' just figure out which one you're closest to and run with that.

OK, maybe it's because I am hetero and in my mid-sixties, but were I in such a situation and someone I had never met chose to introduce themself that way, I'd get up and walk out.

Look, I do not care how you conduct yourself gender or sexual wise in private, but do not feel the need to slap me in the face with it when we are not interacting intimately and/or in public and especially if we have never met and are unlikely to in the future.

ox45tallboy:They're calling for more fluid categories beyond just male and female, as NPR's Margot Adler explains.

I'm totally fine with people who were born with a different sexual identity than what matches their naughty bits. It happens sometimes, and these days, there is no reason not to live a happy and fulfilled life wearing the gender in which you feel comfortable, and having sexual relations with whichever consenting adults wish to do so. Having said that, if your gender identity is changing,on a regular basis, perhaps you need to seek professional help. This is not normal or healthy, and other people catering to this whim is not helpful to your mental health.

I couldn't agree more, but, since the internet never forgets and I see the direction the forces of political correctness are going, I'm going to have to say, "Stop being such a close-minded, intolerant bigot."

There. Now, in twenty years, I will be hailed as a progressive thinker who was ahead of his time, and you will be lumped in with Limbaugh, Beck, Gingrich and Stalin. Won't that be fun?

DrPainMD:I couldn't agree more, but, since the internet never forgets and I see the direction the forces of political correctness are going, I'm going to have to say, "Stop being such a close-minded, intolerant bigot."

There. Now, in twenty years, I will be hailed as a progressive thinker who was ahead of his time, and you will be lumped in with Limbaugh, Beck, Gingrich and Stalin. Won't that be fun?

Actually, in his younger days, before the Teddy Roosevelt 'stache, Stalin... well, you be the judge.

ox45tallboy:staplermofo: Ungendered pronouns would be great. Un-gendering bathrooms would be nice too. If women peep on men or men hog the couch, it's a small price to pay. I would hog the shiat out of that couch.

Why don't dudes get a couch? What the hell are women doing in the can that necessitates a couch? I want a couch to chill on in the can. I would totally call the restaurant's number on my cell and ask for my waiter and then tell him bring me another beer to the couch in the men's room. Bonus points if it's a waitress. More bonus points if she does it. Negative points if she changes gender first.

Wait..wait...you WANT to sit in the shiatter and hang out with other dudes while they piss? And you'd want food and beverages in there? What the fark is wrong with you?

ox45tallboy:staplermofo: Ungendered pronouns would be great. Un-gendering bathrooms would be nice too. If women peep on men or men hog the couch, it's a small price to pay. I would hog the shiat out of that couch.

Why don't dudes get a couch? What the hell are women doing in the can that necessitates a couch? I want a couch to chill on in the can. I would totally call the restaurant's number on my cell and ask for my waiter and then tell him bring me another beer to the couch in the men's room. Bonus points if it's a waitress. More bonus points if she does it. Negative points if she changes gender first.

That couch is in case some man uses corse language and the woman gets the vapors. I think they also keep a vial of smelling salts nearby.

While I wasn't raised in a barn, so I can in public basically call anyone whatever they ask to be called by with a straight face, I have to admit that every time someone makes a big deal out of being identified by their obvious biological gender (or getting annoyed when you mess it up, in the case of androgynous people) my actual unspoken reaction is basically "Oh my god who the hell cares".

If shiat like this actually catches on (probably won't) I'll learn it because etiquette is a life skill, but don't expect me to use it outside of formal venues. PC crap is and always has been an artificial waste of time that conceals an underlying problem instead of or even at the expense of actually fixing it.

Nabb1:And people wonder why we are lagging behind the rest of the industrialized world in science and math education and more and more high tech jobs are headed overseas.

All for the pierced/painted/trans/gay/straight world we live in, but I saw three otherwise able bodied people rooting through garbage this morning looking for scrap. Trying to make ends meet. They need work, and we're wasting our time navel gazing. Aren't we special.

A college I recently visited changed the bathrooms to gender neutral, put a sign on the door saying to lock the door when you go in. WTF So 1 person using it stops anyone else from using the other stalls or urinals.

sometimes your first impression is correct. that is, that they are indeed wasting 50k a year to ponder whether or not they want to be called he or she. you can do that shiat for free while you're digging ditches. christ, i have an education in the sciences and i regret it not having been stricter. thank god i finished when i did?

The Muthaship:Nabb1: And people wonder why we are lagging behind the rest of the industrialized world in science and math education and more and more high tech jobs are headed overseas.

Pragmatism is oppression.

Logic and reason are tools of Patriarchal Oppression!

//I wonder if this is why feminists and transexuals are at such loggerheads with each other. One group believes gender to be a purely social construct and the other group believes it to be hardwired in the brain. After reading the sad tale of David Reimer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer ) it's hard to defend the idea that gender is malleable and purely based on one's early socialization.

This is because they are young and have too much time on their hands. I used to think a lot of stupid shiat like this when I was younger too. When they grow up and get a job (if they can get a job) and move on to the next phase of their life - they will have a different view.

"eau, muy gawd, like, hello and like, everything is like, about meh, and like, all descriptors are like, totally sexist and hate speech and seau uhpressive and like, we have, like, all this ever seau IMPORTANT gymnastic like, stuff about words and it's very important cause like, I'm a very serious person because, like I got these ublung glusses and they're like, totally serious and you have to care about all this cause it's like, seau uffensive and like, important and gimmie munny nao."

ox45tallboy:DrPainMD: I couldn't agree more, but, since the internet never forgets and I see the direction the forces of political correctness are going, I'm going to have to say, "Stop being such a close-minded, intolerant bigot."

There. Now, in twenty years, I will be hailed as a progressive thinker who was ahead of his time, and you will be lumped in with Limbaugh, Beck, Gingrich and Stalin. Won't that be fun?

Actually, in his younger days, before the Teddy Roosevelt 'stache, Stalin... well, you be the judge.

Spad31:ox45tallboy: staplermofo: Ungendered pronouns would be great. Un-gendering bathrooms would be nice too. If women peep on men or men hog the couch, it's a small price to pay. I would hog the shiat out of that couch.

Why don't dudes get a couch? What the hell are women doing in the can that necessitates a couch? I want a couch to chill on in the can. I would totally call the restaurant's number on my cell and ask for my waiter and then tell him bring me another beer to the couch in the men's room. Bonus points if it's a waitress. More bonus points if she does it. Negative points if she changes gender first.

Wait..wait...you WANT to sit in the shiatter and hang out with other dudes while they piss? And you'd want food and beverages in there? What the fark is wrong with you?

The couches are traditionally in a room separate from the stalls. It's like a waiting area.

voodoohotdog:Nabb1: And people wonder why we are lagging behind the rest of the industrialized world in science and math education and more and more high tech jobs are headed overseas.

All for the pierced/painted/trans/gay/straight world we live in, but I saw three otherwise able bodied people rooting through garbage this morning looking for scrap. Trying to make ends meet. They need work, and we're wasting our time navel gazing. Aren't we special.